April 22, 2013
Vorhaus’s well-plotted third Radar Hoverlander novel (after 2011’s The Albuquerque Turkey) takes the second-generation con man to Austin, Tex., where Radar—assisted by girlfriend Allie Quinn and partner Vic Mirplo—tries to help neighbor Sarah Crandall avoid a scam. Adam Ames has persuaded a desperate Sarah that he can save the life of her 10-year-old son, Jonah, who has dysesthesia, a rare and fatal disease. Things get complex quickly when it becomes unclear whether Sarah is Ames’s target or if Radar and friends are the target of Ames and Sarah. In a kind of Spy vs. Spy game, the two sides each seek an edge in a contest of wits that leads to a showdown at an April 1 costume shindig orchestrated by the manic Mirplo. Grifters take pride in not resorting to violence, but the threat of violence is real as a frantic battle royal caps this amusing caper.